| Is vaginal birth after cesarean risky? |
Is vaginal birth after cesarean risky?
by Henci Goer
“A Risk Is Found in Natural Birth After Caesarean” New York Times
“Study: Labor Risky After a Caesarean.” Associated Press
From the above titles and the articles that followed them, readers would think that a new study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine showed that planned repeat cesarean was safer than vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC, pronounced “vee-back”). However, the study concluded nothing of the kind. Slanted by quotations from Dr. Michael Greene, an associate editor of the New England Journal who wrote an accompanying editorial, the newspaper, TV and radio reports were actually another salvo in the disinformation campaign to eliminate VBAC. Before we get to why obstetricians want to discredit VBAC, let’s look first at what the study really said.
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| VBAC |
| Once a Cesarean, Always a Cesarean? The Sorry State of Birth Choices in America |
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Nicette Jukelevics, MA, ICCE
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The World Health Organization and the US federal goal of Healthy People 2010 is a cesarean rate of no more than 15 percent. Current evidence suggests a safe VBAC rate of approximately 75 percent. The Coalition For Improving Maternity Services states, "No evidence supports the idea that cesareans are as safe as vaginal birth for mother or baby. In fact, the increase in cesarean births risks the health and well-being of childbearing women and their babies."1
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| VBAC: Protecting Patients, Defending Doctors |
Editorials
VBAC: Protecting Patients, Defending Doctors
MARK DEUTCHMAN, M.D.
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
at Fitzsimons
Aurora, Colorado
RICHARD G. ROBERTS, M.D., J.D.
University of Wisconsin Medical School
Madison, Wisconsin
Vaginal birth after cesarean delivery (VBAC) appears to go in and out of fashion. Enthusiasm for VBAC peaked in 1996, when 28.3 percent of women with previous cesarean delivery underwent trial of labor, and declined to 16.5 percent in 2001.1,2 Growing concerns about uterine rupture and the attendant risk of infant perinatal mortality were key factors in the shift away from VBAC and the call for more repeat cesarean deliveries.3
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